In competitive swimming there are four recognised strokes: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Front Crawl (although there is no race called Front Crawl - more on that later). Goggles are recommended for anyone wanting to swim these strokes; water will get in your eyes and you will need to see where you are going! If you are not competing, you could also swim the Doggy Paddle or Sidestroke.

There are also some standard variants on the above, some of which are used for Lifesaving. These adaptations are usually there to keep the head above water, which can be vital when saving a life but are less efficient than the standard strokes.

This Entry is not the be all and end all of swimming technique and style. Competitive swimming has lots of little techniques designed to make you go faster, and they have not been included here.

Backstroke

Obviously, this stroke is done on your back. To practice your legs, float on your back with your arms outstretched in the direction you want to go or by your sides. If you are lucky enough to have access to a foam float, you can hold that to help with your buoyancy either outstretched or clasped to your chest. Your legs kick alternately and constantly. Try to aim to just break the surface of the water with your toes and not create too much of a splash. Your feet provide most of the thrust, with the power coming from your quadriceps, the muscles down the front of your thighs. Try to keep your legs as flat as possible and try not to bend too much at the knees.

To practice your arms, start by floating on your back, with your arms outstretched above your head. Keeping one where it is, dig the other arm under the surface, drawing a half circle up to your hips. Once there, raise it up, out of the water to join the other hand. Both arms do this pattern, but one starts just before the other is about to reach your hips, so that they pull alternately, just like your legs. It can be helpful to time a kick for each time a hand re-enters the water above your head. This can improve your rhythm and make you feel like your arms and legs are working together. You will need to put in several kicks for each arm rotation or you will start to sink.

The key to Backstroke is to keep as flat in the water as possible. Don't try to lift your head as that will make your legs sink and cause extra resistance in the water. Your ears will be mostly underwater.

Now, swimming Backstroke at your local pool can be tricky, because you can't see where you are going. There are two main problems - crashing into other swimmers, and crashing into the wall. The main way to avoid other swimmers is to always swim in lanes, and make sure there is a good gap between you. If you think you might be faster than someone, you can always turn yourself over to double check. If you are wearing goggles, you could always pause and tilt your head back underwater to give you a rough idea of how far they are away.

Avoiding the pool edge is more tricky. In competitions and in clubs, they will string up a set of flags five metres from the end of the pool. Once you are confident with your stroke you can learn how many arm strokes it is until you hit the end, and thereby take one less to avoid collision. In a normal pool, however, you will just have to make use of any local landmarks, like lights on the ceiling, signs on the walls, or the location of the steps. It'll be trial and error - the best of luck to you!

Competitive Backstroke is the one stroke that doesn’t start from a dive. Instead, grasp the edge of the pool (or diving blocks if you’re lucky enough to have them) and tuck your legs into your belly, toes against the wall as high as you can get them. To start, throw your arms behind you and push against the wall with your toes, gaining as much spring as you can. Aim to get your whole body underwater with only a bit of little splash. With your arms outstretched and hands clasped together, kick until you reach the surface¹, and then start your arms.

Old English Butterfly, which is not a competition stroke, is done by doing backstroke with both arms at the same time, combined with a breaststroke (rather than a backstroke) kick.

Breaststroke

Breaststroke, swum by ladies everywhere who don't want to get their hair wet, is one of the easiest strokes to get wrong. Once it's learned incorrectly it takes a lot of effort to relearn. Correctly swum, the water will lap at about nose level for most of the stroke. A tip for the legs is to pretend to be a frog!

To get the arms, try to think of a large mixing bowl in front of you. Now, bring your hands to your chest, fingers pointing forwards and palms down, thumbs crossed underneath your fingers. Keeping your fingers together, push forwards until you are almost outstretched. Now, imagine you are scooping around the mixing bowl, dragging the water towards your chest. When you are getting close to your chest, lose the grip on the water, bring your hands back up to the surface of the water, and start again. If you feel like you're throwing water in your face, don't worry. As long as you can breathe at this point, that's just fine.

Now, the legs. This is the tricky bit and is very difficult to practice on land unless you stand on one leg and practice one leg at a time. Grasp the edge of the pool and stretch your legs out behind you, pointing your toes as best you can. Now, keeping your heels close together, bring them up towards your bottom. You then need to change from pointing your toes to the complete opposite - bend your ankles as much as you are able so that your feet are at right angles to your legs. Keeping your hips (and therefore your legs) level, push your feet away from your body, using the flat of your feet to push the water behind you. Don't push straight behind you or over stretch to try and do the splits! Find an angle that is comfortable for you that ends up with your legs apart. When your legs are straightened, bring them back together, point your toes, and start again. When you are comfortable, try to make this a seamless movement but remember - if your feet aren't feeling any resistance when they're pushing away from you, you won't be going anywhere!

Unlike Backstroke, there is only one leg kick per arm stroke. You should be pushing the water with your feet as you push your arms back out in front of you. As you pull with your arms, your feet are moving back up towards your bottom to be ready for the next kick.

Front Crawl

Front Crawl is the fastest of all the strokes. You could also hear it called Freestyle, but that isn't strictly true. The races are announced as Freestyle, and that is exactly what they are - you are free to choose your style of stroke from Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke or Front Crawl. As Front Crawl is the fastest though, virtually nobody swims anything else².

The legs here are exactly the same as Backstroke only on your front. The arms, again, are virtually the same except, funnily enough, on your front. When your arm leaves the water though, don't point to the ceiling with your hands. Let them drop and point with your elbow. Don't point straight up though, go out a little to the sides where it is more comfortable. Your hands will naturally be thrown away from you in a circle³. Keep your hands moving faster than your elbow so that they ends up in front, ready to make the next stroke.

What really differs here is the breathing, which was obviously a lot easier when you were staring up at the ceiling doing a length of Backstroke.

When you swim Front Crawl, you spend most of your time with your face in the water. To breathe, you have to manage the tricky feat of turning your head sideways and raising it enough to get a lungful of air, but not enough to shift the majority of your weight onto your side. If you can see the ceiling, you have twisted too far. The timing is also crucial. Ensure that you have breathed out when your face was underwater so you don't waste valuable time exhaling before you can take a breath.

You will have a preference for turning your head right or left - either is correct⁴. Whichever side you pick, you breathe when that arm leaves the water behind you. When the arm leaves the water, turn your head sideways and down a little⁵. You should not let your whole head leave the water, and don't try to look forward - you don't look where you're going at this point! You have only until your arm re-enters the water ahead of you, earlier if you can manage it. As your hand re-enters the water, twist your head back to the front. The water should lap against your forehead, allowing you to look ahead at where you are going underwater, which is why goggles are essential! If you find that your arms are moving quickly and you are getting lightheaded with all this breathing, it's standard practice to breathe every few strokes. This also means that you don't have to twist as much in the water, giving you a more efficient, and therefore faster, stroke.

Butterfly

Butterfly has a reputation for being one of the more difficult strokes. What makes it hard is the timing between arms and legs; it has to be correct, otherwise you end up swallowing water and floundering like a fish on land. The stroke itself is rhythmic and elegant as long as you have a strong kick and get the timing right!

The legs kick together, like a mermaid flapping her tail. Try to kick from the hip and a bit from the toes, rather just bending your knees. You will end up pushing your groin in and out quite a lot and it's virtually impossible to practice on land. It is actually easiest to practice underwater. It's called dolphin kick, and is used partly to propel you forward, but also to push you up out of the water to enable you to breathe.

When to kick depends on your arms. You can practice this bit out of water if you like. Lean forward, and stretch your arms out in front of you, palms facing out, hands nearly touching. This is where you enter the water, and where you would put in your first kick. Push your arms out a small distance to catch some water and then, without losing the water, push it behind you until your arms are outstretched. As you reach that moment, put in another kick, pushing your head up and out of the water - this is your chance to breathe! Your arms keep moving, out of the water and over your head in a circle back to the front of your body, palms outward, to re-enter the water as you kick again. Voila! When breathing, you only have a short amount of time to do so, so make sure you breathe out whilst your face is underwater. Like Front Crawl, don't feel you have to breathe every stroke.

The Individual Medley and Medley Relay

There is one race that combines all four strokes. They will always be swum in the same order over varying distances. In an Individual Medley – a solo race - they are always swum in this order:

Butterfly

Backstroke

Breaststroke

Freestyle (Front Crawl)

In a team event, called the Medley Relay, each stroke is swum by one swimmer. For safety reasons⁶, the order is amended as follows:

Backstroke

Breaststroke

Butterfly

Freestyle (Front Crawl)

Sidestroke

Sidestroke is not a registered competition stroke, but has its place in Lifeguarding. It can also be very pleasurable to swim but beware- the leg kick is similar to Breaststroke, so don't get them muddled! If you do a Sidestroke kick with Breaststroke it will no longer be legal and you would be disqualified in a competition. As its name suggests, Sidestroke is done on your side. Swimming on either side is fine, and you will probably find it easier on one than the other.

In this stroke, your arms work differently to the other strokes. Instead of each hand pulling against its own patch of water, the front hand passes the water to the rear one. Although in reality that’s not quite true, that’s the feel of the stroke and what you should aim for.

Whilst on your chosen side, stretch your front arm out ahead of you (that is, towards the direction you want to swim, not the direction you are facing). Allowing your elbow to bend, scoop the water down towards your belly. As it reaches there, your rear hand, which is waiting there, pushes the water behind you and then returns to your belly. Whilst it is doing this, stretch your front arm back out in front of you. You will find that your head naturally stays above the water and your legs sink a little – this is normal and the reason why so many people choose to swim it.

At the moment that you are returning your front hand to its starting position, you will need to kick to stop you sinking. The kick here is very different to the other competition strokes. Because you are sideways in the water, you have to compensate. From the knee, fold one leg backwards to about ninety degrees. Without folding, let the other leg drift a little in the opposite direction. At the same time, push both legs back to the starting position. The folded leg will give you the most amount of thrust, depending on how far you fold it. This will shoot you forward in the water at the time when your arms are returning to their starting positions (and thereby not doing any work).

Doggy Paddle

Doggy Paddle is rarely seen once people have learned to swim and go onto other strokes. The stroke is very close to how a dog swims, hence the name. On your front, use one arm then the other to drag the water down in front of your chest, returning it up and out of the water to start each new stroke. You can either kick with your legs, or try to move them in rhythm with your arms. Whichever way you choose to do it, it won’t very efficient or very fast!